NAEB Newsletter (Mar 1957)

NEWS OF MEMBERS GENERAL ► Televised education in Memphis may come to an end within the next 2 months unless $110,000 is ap¬ propriated by the city and county commissions for “basic” operation cost. Julian Bondurant, president of the Memphis Community TV Foundation which activated WKNO-TV last June, said neither commission has acted on the station’s October request for financial aid. In order to meet legal requirements, the money would have to be appropriated by the city and county commissions through their respective boards of edu¬ cation. The amount needed - less than the cost of one textbook per school child in Memphis - would supplement $50,000 paid by the state and other revenues which go into the station’s budget of nearly $30,000 a year. ► In a Chicago Daily News story, “TV Digs Own Grave Here,” decrying the sterility of Chicago’s com¬ mercial TV, reporter Jack Mabley mentioned WTTW, Chicago’s ETV station, “looks better every day as its commercial counterparts deteriorate.” ► The future looks grim for WTHS-TV, Dade County’s ETV station. If $76,200 isn’t found some¬ where for next year’s budget, the station will fold on June 15; and the channel will almost c&rtainly be assigned to a commercial broadcasting company. TV authorities feel the school system should contribute the money; but Dade County School Board members are divided 3-2 against it. (Esti¬ mated cost to raise the money is about 35c per year per child in Dade schools.) The Miami Daily News ran two big articles Feb¬ ruary 14 and 15 publicizing WTHS-TV’s problems and extrolling benefits the station gives listeners. We agree with reporter Louis Blanchard when he warns, “For want of a nail ...” ► A 4-months’ feud between the Philadelphia Board of Public Education and WHYY-TV, the, city’s ETV station, was settled February 21, 1957. The set¬ tlement paves the way for the school board to give the station full financial backing and put a program of ETV in the public schools. The agreement calls for reorganization of the sta¬ tion board to give the school district greater rep¬ resentation. They will have 5 more members on the 21-member WHYY-TV board, a total of 10 rep¬ resentatives. Another “term” was the resignations of Laurence LePage, chairman of the WHYY board, and Walter Biddle Saul, president of the station. This removes the station’s two top officials. LePage said he would submit his resignation only when reorganization was fully implemented. Saul was not at the meeting, but when advised of the terms, commented his resignation was a small price to pay in comparison to public interest in ETV. PERSONNEL ^ The Metropolitan Educational TV Association, New York, has added two persons to its executive staff. Dr. A. W. Brown, provost and professor of English at Union College, Schenectady, was named president, and Richard D. Heffner was appointed director of programming for META. Mrs. Claire Gregory is the new women’s director of the Indiana University Radio and TV Service. She is also lecturer in the I. U. Radio and TV Depart¬ ment and is primarily responsible for programs of interest to women and children. ► Marguerite Fleming of KSLH, St. Louis, is rather a famous person to her alma mater, Illinois Wesleyan University. A fellow Wesley alum at NAEB Headquarters spotted a large article on Miss Fleming in the latest issue of their alumni maga¬ zine. The story was a nice tribute to the KSLH man¬ ager. She seems to be collecting a lot of tributes lately! We are grieved to report the death of Donald Ames, program director for KDPS, Des Moines Public Schools radio station. Mr. Ames died of a heart attack December 21, 1956. He had been with the station since its beginning five years ago. Notice of his demise should have appeared in the February NEWSLETTER, and our apologies to all concerned that it did not. NEWSLETTER Page 5